IT IS THE BUSINESS OF THE FUTURE TO BE DANGEROUS

The instrumentals are great, going from fullon space rock to ambient, but the songs lack. If you hear Alan Davey's songs that were rejected for Hawkwind of this era on Chaos Delight if favor off a A&B rehash and a reggea tune, you might start to question Brock's judgement. But, it's always final ofcourse.

When you are really bored and nothing good comes out of you, you usually sigh, take a beer or watch the chickens getting philosofic on oats; all harmless and forgotten the next day. Hawkwind recorded quite a few of those moments and made a record of it. If they ever get the urge to do something like this again the should consider starting a stamp collection instead.

Cruise control engaged

Worth getting for the cover of "Gimme shelter" alone, which is just as well, as the rest of the album is patchy at best. This track though gives the song the full Hawkwind treatment and sound, with a driving beat and the monotone yet melodic vocals.

"Letting in the past" is more good solid Hawkwind driving rock, while "The camera that could lie" is surprisingly good for reggae pop(!). Those track aside though, there's little to make this album worthy of note.

Many of the remaining tracks are little more than ambient instrumental noodlings. Hawkwind are in cruise control here.

This album is sandwiched in between 2 very good official Hawkwind releases - Electric Tepee and The Business Trip Live. The album starts with a number of instrumental tracks, which sounded like an interesting concept before I bought the album but it didn't live up to my expectations. It doesn't really sound like Hawkwind for most of the album. It's more like the ambient albums that were popular around 1993.

So I can't recommend this album. Thankfully it was just a temporary blip in their career and they soon found their form again.

This is a really good album, to my ears the logical extension of the more spacey/experimental elements of the (excellent) Electric Tepee. Granted it's a bit light on the rock n'roll factor but if you like synth based space music goes this is a must listen. This is absolutely *NOT* techno or dance music, but the sound of Brock/Davey/Chadwick reinventing themselves in an electronic climate, proving they can still be innovative and original.

This is the best Hawkwind album since 1980! Why? Well, to say the least, Dave Brock's voice has not aged well, and this album is primarily instumental. Hawkwind made no bones about absorbing rave/techno/sampling influences into their music, and hey, it works pretty well. It's not rave or techno, but a return to a real psychedelic, almost ambient sound. The production is excellent and modern, unlike Electric Teepee, which sounded like crap. The few missteps are all near the end...the cover of "Gimme Shelter" is terrible, and a pseudo-reggae track is best forgotten. But when they stick to making soundscapes like the title track, the album soars and really works as ambient mood music. Not bad for a chap in his fifties. If you are curious about late Hawkwind but leery of the quality of these albums, try this one.

To me, this album is much better than the current rating suggests. I like it better than most other Hawkwind releases from the late eighties and the nineties, basically because it is the one album on which Dave Brock & company truly adapt themselves to the era of electronic dance music. This album is by no means dance music, but it offers a very nice modern update on the usual hawkwind soundscapes. It's dense, it floats and (a few minor faults aside) works really well from beginning to end.

Certainly not essential Hawkwind - if you are looking for that: go buy their early seventies output - but it's a nice addition to their catalogue

i really enjoyed this aural adventure on its release and still play it, i have always considered "it is the business of the future to be dangerous" one of hawkwind's better albums to my ears, if not equal to but at least as enjoyable as "electric tepee". this was made during a good period of hawkwind material, i agree they explored the ambient side of things here to an extent rather than actual songs, and a lot of people find this sort of thing boring, and tend to love or hate it but it works for me. i have listened to many ambient style albums but have found hawkwind's the most approachable. the album was originally released as a double lp but can now be purchased on a single cd. the sound quality is extremely good, making the most of the special effects. most of the ambient tracks, which blend well together, are based around a repeated theme interspersed with computerised sound effects with drums and percussion blended together. some interesting ideas here, i found the "space is their palestine/tibet is not china" tracks very effective, building up an aural image of that country, including singing tibetan monks! washes of synthesisers, great rhythms, soaring guitars, a good exercise for the imagination. i have played this album many times and still hear things i'd missed. the album flows along in a similar style until "letting in the past", "the camera that could lie" (amazing reggae-style beat), two of the three conventional songs (if conventional is the appropriate word for hawkwind!) break the mood. " 3 or 4 erections in the course of a night", "techno tropic zone exists" (interesting titles!), then "gimme shelter", an amazing version of the rolling stones song. "avante" is the last track on the album, some fast drum patterns over washes and layers of sound effects. overall a stimulating sound experience, an excellent addition to any ambient/space rock music collection, indeed i wish dave brock, the king of space rock, would go back to his studio and conjure up new sounds and images and create another album in this style, rather than "take me to your leader" which i found slightly disappointing - a bit too conventional!

For the un-initiated, purchasing a Hawkwind album can be a definate 'hit and miss' affair. Whilst I am very surprised to see such a low rating for such a tremendous Space-Rock album, 'It is the Business of the Future....' is one of my select favourites (along with 'Electric Tepee', 'Levitation', 'Warrior....' ) from the 30-odd Hawk LP's I own, so I guess this rating/review is quite biased, but I'd be lying to myself by not backing it up 100 %.

Down to a trio, consisting of mainstay Dave Brock (vocals/guitar/keyboards/synths), Alan Davey (bass/backing vox/wave sequencing/synths) and Richard Chadwick (drums/perc./vocal) the Hawkwind universe has never sounded so 'complete' - by having just the three of them, there were (seemingly) less hassles and more focus, especially with Brock and Davey totally immersing themselves, almost full-swing, with classic analogue and modern digital synthesizer technology - creating intense, spacey atmospheres like no other band I've heard, incorporating subtle guitars and bass, and Richard C providing a solid back-bone to the hypnotic, almost mantric-like synth work - this is indeed true for LP1, totally instrumental for 35 min. and engaging all the way. Record 2 is the more song- oriented half of the release, that said, there's still a few instrumental tracks. Some tracks feature lyrics from older songs, and there is even a Stones cover with 'Gimme Shelter', sung by the drummer (not a bad voice, I must say). Highly experimental, incredibly clever and well crafted, the album is totally different to their earlier albums, but at the same time remains distinctively 'Hawkwind'. I cannot bring myself to rating this release any lower than 5, even though many folks may find it too meandering. Stunning cover-art by Alan Arthurs (as usual).

This is another average "Hawkwind" album which hesitates between ambient music and space-rock. This is another average "Hawkwind" album which hesitates between ambient music and space-rock. Or both as during the repetitive opener and the long "Space Is Their Palestine". Boring synthetic music.

And even if we all know now that "Tibet Is Not China", only part two is worth. One of the best moment of this long album. At least a great rocking number! But this good moment is brief. "Let Barking Dogs Lie" is just another of these electronics experimentation which are closer from the jamming session. Press next.

This time, the band is even offering a reggae oriented song. I have to admit that "The Camera That Could Lie" is really painful and it leaves me voiceless. What the hell did they have in mind while writing this song? Spacey reggae! Such an experience! The poorest track on this "Business Of The Future".

This album is more instrumental than usual, which is fine as long as the music is inspired. But it is not very often the case. The main question being "Three Or Four Erections In The Course Of A Night"? It is definitely not while hearing this track that one would react as suggested.

Techno beat of course during "Techno Tropic Zone Exists" which is another casting mistake IMO. But it is not an isolated item. Boring and repetitive to the bones. Ouch!

Luckily enough, there is an original cover of the great Stones song "Gimme Shelter". Totally revisited (like Mann could do), it shows an interesting angle. It is completely englobed in a fine psychedelic mood. Well done. And even if there were hope with the good start of "Avante", the second half of it, ruins it again.

But this won't prevent this album to get the two stars rating. For fans only.

It Is The Business... is the second Hawkwind album in two years. It's almost as long as its predecessor but this one focuses entirely on their ambient instrumental side.

They start with the excellent synth heavy title track. An entrancing pulse created with laid-back drums and percussion steers it forward with a stately pace. An inspired start. Also Space Is Their is majestic. It's flooded with psychedelic Middle-Eastern synth washes and would be used as an instrumental extension of Assassins of Allah in Hawkwind's live set, for example on Love In Space.

At this point, most Hawkfans might have preferred a song with some vocals, but also This Is Not China stays in the same ambient realm, Part 2 is slightly more rocking. Also Let The Barking Dogs Lie remains upbeat with its heavy synth drone and lush psychedelic varnish. After the dull 80's, Hawkwind sure found them a good supplier of weeds and magic mushrooms again.

After a number of less remarkable soundscapes, The Camera That Could Lie finally adds some vocals. I've come to know this wonderful 'Hawkwind goes reggae' tune from the live Business Trip album. Due to the inexplicable use of a drum computer it's not as convincing here, but still fun. I had expected more from a title like Techno Tropic Zone, some real techno maybe? David Brock occasionally proved to be quite adept at integrating techno, but not here. The basic idea is a slightly industrial orchestral pulse, but doesn't develop into something really interesting.

It takes some time to get used to Gimme Shelter. At first it's rather disappointing, it has good vocals but the main beat is very generic, almost an afterthought. Also the guitars don't get much further then strumming along with the dull beat. But this is Hawkwind, all rationalisations can't prevent that they will get you on board of this trip. Their snake charming enchantment is too powerful to resist. Avante concludes with some more abstract sonics.

Basically, it's all about expectations. This is a very ambient Hawkwind that will mostly disappoint their rock enthusiastic fanbase. But that can not hide from the fact that it is a very strong effort in its own right. It lacks a real highlight to push it to 4 stars but it is very consistent overall. 3.5 stars.

Perhaps the peak of Hawkwind's synth-dominated, New Age-influenced era, It Is the Business of the Future To Be Dangerous gives a largely-instrumental journey through various spacey New Age territories, culminating in a rockier number in the form of a cover of the Stones' classic Gimme Shelter. Operating as a trio, the Hawks adapt to this constraint neatly, and achieve a superior sound in the studio compared to previous efforts along similar lines like Church of Hawkwind and Space Bandits. It will take a while to grow on you if you're more fond of their rock-oriented earlier eras - I know that was the case for me - but if you dig this weirdly earnest fantasy-political space new age business it's quite good.

"It is the business of the future to be dangerous" is yet another 90s Hawkwind album that has forgettable tracks though is rather pleasant while listening. It is not the Hawkwind that I grew to love over the years but is rather a very different beast, a tranquil thing that just focuses on instrumental music and dull repetition. Nothing really stands out as a classic song, rather it all meshes together into nothing more than background music. Here we go with another very uninspired studio release churned out during Hawkwind's most troubled period. Reduced to a threesome the band sound desperate to capture the old magic but it rarely reaches point 4 on the Rickter Scale.

'It Is The Business Of The Future To Be Dangerous' begins things with synth effects, a strong tribalistic percussive rhythm, and spacey electronics. It is basically an instrumental, sounding more like Ozric Tentacles with psychedelic spaceytronics and hypno beats. This music could be a cure for insomnia it is so dreary, not a good start.

'Space Is Their (Palestine)' is a monster epic at almost 12 minutes in length. Not musch happens though as it is mostly improvised. 'Tibet Is Not China, Pt. 1' is a chanting thing, Tibetan Monks in space perhaps. The gentle airy music drifts along painfully slow and does not seem to go anywhere. 'Tibet Is Not China, Pt. 2' is more of the same as if we needed it. A riff cranks up but it is too late, as I have already lost interest in this polyfiller mediocrity. Boring is the word I am searching for.

'Let Barking Dogs Lie' is another long song, about 9 minutes, and has some intriguing lead guitar and techno beats, but soon wears thin. I guess it is okay compared to the previous material but this is still not great Hawkwind by any stretch of the imagination.

'The Camera that Could Lie' is a reggae song, and it actually is better than all the dire ambiance previous. I am not sure if the band are sending themselves up here but whatever the case, it is certainly different territory Hawkwind are treading in. Brock sounds fine here and the spacey electronics are almost an intrusion with the reggae beat.

'3 Or 4 Erections In The Course Of A Night' is an instrumental with funny horses braying, a female voice, space kanoodling, and layers of synth ambience.

'Techno Tropic Zone Exists' has some nice orchestrated staccato stabs and Brock's echoed vocals are welcome. Once again we have digital tech dominating over space rock, and it is not all that inspiring, perhaps best left to those who want to get stoned. The music is uninteresting to me however, and I really cannot recommend this album to a Hawkwind fan or space rock fan. I would recommend it to those who like trance, techno digitalised sequencing and weird spacey ambience.

'Gimme Shelter' is a Rolling Stones cover with spacey effects, a cool riff locking in with the familiar melody. Brock is quite okay on vocals. I actually like this better than the hugely over rated Rolling Stones, who only have about ten decent tracks overall in my opinion. The harmonica on this track is a nice touch too and I like the guitar lead work.

So overall more spacey ambient psych music without many highlights to speak of. A real shame as the band are capable of brilliance, not this tired lacklustre effort. This is almost as bad as "Hawklords ? 25 Years on", almost but not quite that terrible. How this must have alienated Hawkwind fans. What an absolute waste of talent. Do not bother unless you collect everything Hawkwind have released.